“Her 23-year-old protagonist, Francis, is not particularly sympathetic—he’s callow, selfish, cruel to those who care about him, and probably a little bit crazy. Yet somehow, from Francis’ floundering attempts to accept the terms of adulthood, Arnold-Ratliff has drawn a beautifully compelling and utterly original novel.” At the Portland Mercury, Alison Hallett reviews Kate Arnold-Ratliff’s novel Bright Before Us, which looks quite good.